§10161 Monitored retrievable storage

Summary

The Secretary must finish a detailed study and send Congress a plan by June 1, 1985 for building one or more monitored retrievable storage (MRS) sites to hold high-level radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel from civilian activities. Each site must be able to hold that waste, be watched and maintained continuously, allow the waste to be taken back out for processing or disposal, and be kept safe as long as needed (including replacing the facility if required). The plan must set up a federal program to pick sites, build, and run the facilities; show how construction and operation will be paid for (the waste generators and owners must pay); include site-specific designs, specs, and cost estimates so construction bids can be sought and Congress can approve work; and explain how these sites would fit with other storage or disposal programs. The Secretary must include at least three possible sites and at least five site-and-design combinations, recommend one, and consult with the Commission and the Administrator and send their comments to Congress. Preparing and sending this plan only requires an environmental assessment, not a full environmental impact statement. If Congress later approves construction, full environmental review rules apply to building the facility, but any EIS does not have to question the need for the facility or the design features listed above. Any approved facility must be licensed by the appropriate Commission, and that first licensing review may not reexamine the need for the facility or alternatives to the stated design criteria. Once Congress authorizes construction, the Secretary must begin annual impact-aid payments to local governments from the Nuclear Waste Fund to help cover social and public-service costs; the payments must be fairly allocated, used for local planning and services, and need prior appropriations. No MRS built under this law may be placed in a state that has a site approved for repository site characterization while that site is still under consideration, and several other statutory rules for repositories apply to these facilities with “repository” treated as meaning an MRS.